Terms and Conditions of Sales

Securing orders for your goods or services is what business is all about, but it can be a minefield without a set of carefully crafted terms and conditions in place to govern the sales process and establish a procedure for dealing with things if they go wrong.

This is true whether you are selling to consumers or fellow enterprises and whether you are trading from a shop counter or online.

At IMD Solicitors, we specialise in working alongside businesses to create terms and conditions of sale suitable for a range of goods and services and which ensure that where disputes arise they are resolved as quickly and economically as possible. 

Our lawyers are based in several offices across the UK and Europe and can usually work for a fixed-fee so that costs are predictable and agreed in advance.

We can help whatever sector or industry you operate in and we have particular expertise in digital sales and cross-border transactions.

Why terms and conditions are important

A properly drafted set of terms and conditions will enable your business to control the basis on which a sale proceeds and can help you to clarify issues, such as:

• what you have agreed to deliver; 
• the price you expect the customer to pay;
• the date by which you will deliver, with wriggle room built-in should you run into difficulties;
• the circumstances in which the sale can be cancelled;
• the customer’s rights if goods are faulty or services are poorly performed; and
• your liability for mistakes or if you are unable to keep your side of the bargain.

Without terms and conditions, you are at the mercy of statutory default rules to determine your rights and responsibilities — or worse, you could find yourself subject to your customer’s terms and conditions which will have been written for their benefit not yours.

Will generic terms and conditions do?

No two businesses are the same, so it is always preferable to have bespoke terms and conditions prepared which are tailored toy our needs rather than relying on a generic document that you have copied or bought over the internet.

Also, generic documents are not always up-to-date and ca be poorly drafted which may lead to problems if the are unclear or open to interpretation.

How IMD Solicitors can help

Our commercial solutions team is made up of experienced lawyers who specialise in creating personalised terms and conditions for a variety of businesses operating across a broad range of sectors and industries.

We act for start-ups and fledgling enterprises who come to use with a blank piece of paper, as well as established businesses with a clear idea of what they want to achieve or who already have terms and conditions that simply need updating.

Our services include:

• a business review to determine your requirements;
• advice of your legal obligations given the area you operate in and whether you are conducting business-to-business or business-to-consumer sales; and 
• guidance on specialist matters, such as consumer protection legislation, UK and EU laws on distance selling and online trading, considerations in cross-border transactions, rules around data protection compliance and domestic and international dispute resolution options if things go wrong.